Hilo to Kona
Beautiful!
Summer Vacation 2018 - Hawaii
(created Sun. July 29, 2018; updated Sun. Aug. 19, 2018)
Four mile scenic drive
Four hundred foot tall ‘Akaka Falls
Wai’ipo Valley Overlook
Keck Observatory Visitor’s Center
We stayed in Kona, on the western side of the Big Island.
The Kiluaea volcano is located on the eastern side of the Big Island, and has been erupting more than usual since May 3, 2018.
We learned before we go that there are boat tours that let you see the lava flow from the ocean.
We found Moku Nui (translates to “Big Island”) Lava Boat Tours and reserved our seats a couple weeks before we left.
The Moku Nui lava boat tour sailed from Hilo, on the eastern side of the Big Island.
We drove the saddle road (lighter blue in the map below), overnight in the dark, over a lower part of Mauna Kea, and drove through some clouds on the way there.
For the drive home, we drove along the coast, to the north, along Highway 19 (dark blue in the map below), and saw more beauty than we expected.
Four mile scenic drive
Shortly after leaving Hilo we saw a scenic drive... “scenic” is an understatement.
Along the drive are some homes, many tall trees, at least one waterfall, some roaming chickens, and more.
‘Akaka Falls... four hundred feet tall
A little further along Highway 19 we realized that we were near the 400+ foot tall ‘Akaka Falls, so visited. The trail is paved, and shows the falls and the creeks / streams flowing downstream, and many plants - ginger, bamboo, hibiscus, and more.
Ginger
Bamboo
Hibiscus
Baby Turkey
As we drove to the Waipi’o Valley Overlook we saw chickens walking in the road AND we saw a mom and dad turkey AND a baby turkey! None of us had ever seen a baby turkey before. Abby captured some pictures.
Wai’ipo Valley Overlook
One legend apparently has it that a warrior struck the ground with his club, making this valley.
It is about a mile wide, very deep, and beautiful... and there are waterfalls flowing out of the side of that cliff right there in the center, pouring into the ocean - beautiful!
Links:
Keck Observatory Visitor’s Center
Dad thought about visiting the telescopes atop Manua Kea, but realized that there were too many clouds, too few hours in the day, and too little interest among the other three family family members, so he was OK not going.
Then, as we drove home, we passed the Keck Observatory Visitor Center, in Waimea, and made a u-turn. Dad asked that he and Abby just go in for just 5-7 minutes. Somehow that turned into 40 minutes, because it is pretty awesome!
Keck Observatory has:
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⁃discovered over 100 exoplanets and has recently helped to classify different types of exoplanets
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⁃Seen through the gas cloud at the center of our Milky Way and see the stars swirling around the black hole - http://www.keckobservatory.org/g-objects/
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⁃Discovered dark matter
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⁃Discovered the moon Dysnomia, around Eris, which is further from the sun than Pluto and bigger than Pluto, and which helped change the class of planet for Pluto
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⁃the Keck I and Keck II telescopes, which have 36 6-foot hexagonal mirrors and they make two 10-meter (30-foot) telescopes
We drove home through Waimea Valley, ...
... seeing grass like in the plains of Wyoming (summer vacation 2017), BUT with lots of black lava rock amid the grass (more accurately grass growing among the lava) which was not seen in Wyoming.
and we saw these wild goats, too
We then sighted two old-time cars right before the hotel - a 1949 and a ‘55 Chevy... the family in the trailing pickup joked and we took his picture, too... :)
Links to the rest of this travel journal:
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17)Oahu - Dole Plantation Maze and Polynesian Cultural Center
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26)SLUH in HI
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28)Postcards
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29)Reviews
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30)Hawaii 2000
